The Old v. The New
Clashing Ideals of the 1920s
Changing Ways of Life & The Twenties Women
Popular Culture & The Harlem Renaissance
Changing Ways of Life
City Life in 1920
New York City in 1920
What Was The Old Way of Life?
The New?
The
th
18
Amendment
“After one year from the
ratification of this article
the manufacture, sale, or
transportation of
intoxicating liquors within,
the importation thereof
into, or the exportation
thereof from the United
States and all territory
subject to the jurisdiction
thereof for beverage
purposes is hereby
prohibited.”
The “Alcoholic
Republic”
Consumption of alcohol per year was
7.1 gallons per person.
Family violence
Crime
Poverty
Loss of Production in Factories
Prohibition
Passed in 1920.
Believed it “would
eliminate the social
problems caused by
intoxication.”
Small towns?
Cities?
Prohibition
“Washington DC… had 300 bars before
Prohibition: now it had 700 speakeasies,
supplied by 4,000 bootleggers. Police records
showed arrests for drunkenness had trebled
(3x) over the decade. Massachusetts had
jumped from 1,000 licensed saloons to 4,000
speakeasies, plus 4,000 more in Boston alone…
Kansas had been the first state to go dry… yet
‘there is not a town in Kansas where [you]
cannot go as a total stranger and get a drink
of liquor and very good liquor at that, within
fifteen minutes of arrival.’”
Paul Johnson, A History of the American People
Did It Work?
NOPE.
Police funding: INCREASED $11.4 Million
Arrests for Drunkenness and Disorderly Conduct: INCREASED 41%
Arrests of Drunken Drivers: INCREASED 81%
Thefts and Burglaries: INCREASED 9%
Homicides, Assault, and Battery: INCREASED 13%
Number of Federal Convicts: INCREASED 561%
Federal Prison Population: INCREASED 366%
Percentage of drinkers rose.
Percentage of women drinking rose.
Bootlegging rose.
Organized crime rose.
Al “Scarface” Capone?
Earned $60m in 1927
In 2013?
$806,472,408
So, What Does That Look Like?
$207,000,000
Zhenli Ye Gon
Chinese Born, Mexican Meth Smuggler
Organized Crime
“What Prohibition did was to transfer the manufacture, sale, and
distribution of liquor from legitimate to criminal forces.”
Prohibition “was the work of ‘ignorant bumpkins of the cow states
who resent the fact they had to swill raw corn liquor while city
slickers got good wine and whiskey.’”
Organized Crime
Al Capone
Lucky Luciano
Chicago
New York City
Police Response?
NOPE.
Unable & Unwilling.
Understaffed & Corrupt.
Prohibition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2md-mYfZic
Prohibition in the Area
The
th
19
Amendment
“The right of citizens of
the United States to vote
shall not be denied or
abridged by the United
States or by any State
on account of sex.”
Women in 1920
Flapper -
a "new breed"
of young Western women in
the 1920s who wore short skirts,
bobbed their hair, listened to
jazz, and flaunted their disdain
for what was then considered
acceptable behavior. Flappers
were seen as brash for wearing
excessive makeup, drinking,
treating sex in a casual
manner,
smoking,
driving
automobiles, and otherwise
flouting social and sexual
norms.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3svvCj4yhYc
Women in 1920
“The
traditionalists…
looked down on flappers
for what they felt was a
disregard for morality.
Traditionalist were also
alarmed by a rising
divorce rate, which was
fueled by … a new sense
of independence among
women.”
What’s Left?